Third of parents use cash as bribe for under 10s

Bribery on some level can creep into parenting, with the innocent ‘you can have a sweet if you eat all your dinner’, but how far should us parents really go to get our children to do what we want them to do?

It seems that cash bribes are now being used as incentives for children under the age of ten years old, as a new study has revealed that a third, 32%, of parents around the UK admit to using cash to curb the behaviour of their children.

The study was conducted by the website Babychild, an independent baby-product review website, and 1, 521 parents of children under the age of ten were asked questions surrounding their discipline methods.

Parents who took part in the study were asked the question, “Do you use cash as a bribe to encourage/ discourage behaviour from your child?” to which a third, 32%, of respondents answered “yes.”

These parents were then asked to choose, from a multiple list of answers, in what situations they regularly used cash as an incentive to bribe their children. The top five situations where cash is used as a behavioural reward were as follows:

1) Cleaning/ tidying bedroom – 26%
2) Washing dishes – 22%
3) Eating vegetables – 19%
4) Behaving well in particular situations – 13%
5) Doing well at school – 10%

Parents who admitted to encouraging their child’s behaviour with cash rewards were asked to state how much they usually paid. The majority, 61%, admitted that they gave their child £1-2 pounds per separate instance; whilst one in five, 21%, admitted that they usually paid £5 for each behaviour successfully encouraged.

Furthermore, these parents were also asked why they chose to reward their children with cash, with three quarters, 76%, explaining that their children ‘preferred receiving cash as a reward to any other gift.’

When asked, “Do you think it is wrong to encourage your child’s behaviour through the use of cash incentives?” over half, 53% of total respondents to the study answered “no.” Of those who answered “yes,” two thirds, 67%, further explained that they believed it was wrong as children should be taught to do as their told without the use of cash as bribery.

Jill Tovey, co-founder of Babychild.org.uk, commented on the findings: “Many parents will turn to bribery techniques in order to encourage and discourage certain behaviours from their children, so we wanted to look into just how many parents will use cash as a reward.

"It was surprising to see that a third of parents to children under the age of 10 admitted to doing so, but it appears that as times change, children are growing to value money at a younger age.”

What do you think? Do you think bribing children with money is acceptable? Or do you think money should never be used to get your children to do as they're told? Tell us your views by leaving a comment in the box below...

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